What is a Contract?

It is important to know what is a contract as it is a legal matter that one must know to avoid problems in future. The contract is an agreement signed by two or more parties by promising to follow the prompted work. A contract can come in different forms including written and oral. It can be implied or can even be expressed where in legal enforcement can remain present or absent. This is a mutual agreement signed to stay clean and out of any fraudulent ideas.

When legal enforcement comes, a contract can become highly strong during an offer and an acceptance; exchanging hands and settling the terms of agreement without doubt. Here, involvement of both the parties occurs with proper capacity to sign the contract. There are weaker contracts as well which come in verbal agreement patterns or contracts that are designed by parties in direct violation of laws. This is made from within particular jurisdiction. A valid contract can come in different frames where even a complete course in law school could be devoted to contract law. Below given are some of the types of contract that one can adapt for specific purpose.

Everyday Agreements

Many people go with written documents as a proof and in this matter, though the most common type of contracts become oral contracts, they prefer written one. In general life, many people use oral contracts every day, but some follow it and some forget it. Take for example, a mother tells her daughter that she will be rewarded if she behaves well at a certain event and if the child agrees to it, the contract begins. It is an oral contract.

Implied or Express

Various terms are implied in contracts which both the parties should understand. In this type of contract the terms are understood without expressing or specified. This means all the details that one should know are included. Normally, when people think of contracts, they get in their mind express contracts. For say, a contract is made for monetary loan, the loan receiver has to promise for paying back certain amount at regular intervals with a fixed interest rate until the loan is paid off. Also, the term could be to also pay fees for late payments. All these terms are clearly mentioned in an express or written contract. In certain conditions, an entire contract itself becomes implied. For example, a customer orders for food in a restaurant. This becomes oral contract. Here the server or the customer doesn’t state any offer and acceptance, but when the food is served, the payment is then made which includes taxes and other conditions. So, this agreement becomes implied.

Other Elements of Contracts

A contract mainly shows some in exchanged among both the parties. So offer and acceptances become fundamental parts of contracts. In certain cases, the law demands consideration to remain adequate which means comparatively reasonable price or nominal if the amount is irrelevant. Also sometimes, this pattern is done to prevent injustice.

Enforceability

Contracts can or cannot be enforceable by law. Simple contracts like mother and daughter agreement cannot be enforceable by law. However, in some cases, a contract becomes strictly enforceable by law that also includes the finalization of both the parties to frame a contract into legal terms or not.

A contract may stay non-enforceable by law for different reasons. Yet, problems in a contract can turn it invalid. In this matter, if one of the parties has diminished capacity due to mental or age condition then the contract turns unenforceable. It also includes fraud and misrepresentation by a party that violates a law.